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When I woke up a few hours later, my entire body hurt. I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out. Orlando was sound asleep in the chair beside my bed, and I didn’t want to wake him. It wasn’t even six o’clock in the morning yet. I gently pushed back my blankets, and went to the bathroom. When I came back, Orlando was standing beside my bed.

“There you are,” he said, smiling as he came to take me gently in his arms. He scooped me up and placed me gently on the bed again. “I’ll let the doctor know you’re up.” He kissed my forehead and left the room.

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I was freezing when I woke up later that afternoon. I rolled over to cuddle Orlando for warmth, but he wasn’t there. Cursing under my breath, I threw back the covers and got to my feet. I needed another blanket, and not knowing where Orlando was, I had to get it myself. I smiled to myself, thinking that I was finally getting to do something on my own, without him hovering over my shoulder.

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Orlando was due to return to his movie set a couple days later. We’d spent two glorious days in bed, watching movies and eating. Lisa joined us when she could, but, unlike me, she still had to work. The day Orlando was to leave, I resigned myself to being without him yet again, telling myself it was only for a few weeks.

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Whenever Orlando called over the next few days, it took everything I had not to tell him about my trip. It was a surprise, after all. I had to start back into training my voice, to get my stamina back, so I didn’t have a lot of time to think about going to see Orlando. I found I was exhausted after only a few songs, and I was having trouble hitting the notes in “Defying Gravity,” neither of which were a good sign. I had an appointment with Dr. Cuthbert, at his office, two days before I was to leave for St. Vincent’s, so I asked him about it.

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Friday morning dawned bright and cold, the perfect New York morning. I went down the street for coffee and a bagel, then went home to wait for the phone to ring. Orlando had taken to calling me every morning before he went to the set, sometimes as early as five or six, and I figured he wouldn’t miss that day. I was right.

“Happy birthday, Orlando,” I said when I picked up the phone. It was just after seven, and no one else I knew would call that early.

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“I believe this is yours,” he said afterward, handing me my discarded bathing suit. He’d already pulled his on, much to my disappointment. He didn’t seem to have any interest in looking at me; in fact, he kept looking away. I put my suit on and we swam back to shore slowly.

Orlando got out of the water first, and spread our towels out over the sand. I jogged up to him, ringing the water out of my hair. He was right there, and yet he seemed to be miles away.

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I went back on stage Monday night, but my heart wasn’t in it. I did my best, and luckily no one knew anything was wrong. Nick joked about my ‘wild weekend’ exhausting me. He had no idea just how true that was.

About a week after I returned to Wicked, Cooper called. His show was only a month away, and we had details to work out.

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When I got home, Lisa was there, doing yoga in the living room. She was bent back into some strange pose that a normal person would have found painful. I just shook my head as I threw my purse and music on the couch. She untangled herself and got up, shutting off the TV.

“That was refreshing,” she said, beaming at me. “You should try it.”

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I was so busy over the next week that I didn’t have time to dwell on missing Orlando. I spent a lot of time at the theatre, getting Adam ready to perform with us, and actually doing the show itself. It amazed me how quickly he picked things up, how fast he fit in with the rest of the cast. By the time he was set to go on, he was more than ready.

That night was hectic, as Nick paced around, ever the nervous director, fretting about this or that. I had to laugh as he passed by us for the fourth time during my make-up application. He was completely wired.

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